One of the most important aspects that govern the entire cycle that sees wine getting from the producer to the consumer, to the final buyer itself, is the aggregated effect of what we call “buyer’s requirements”. These requirements developed over the years and their aggregated effect made itself felt on the legislative standards imposed on the wine distribution market, but also on the common practices of the wine distributors of any kind. Therefore, it is one the most important aspects that must be taken into consideration by a wine producer that wants to become a prospective client (supplier) in the wine distribution industry. We shall dedicate several articles of our editorial endeavor for the “Best Wine Importers” website to this straightforward, yet important, subject.
More precisely, we shall focus on the buyers from the European Union, on their requirements when it comes to buying wine. A study published by CBI (“Centre for the Promotion of Imports from developing countries”) and The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of The Netherlands had these requirements as subject and identified three main categories in which these requirements can be compartmented. When it comes to the product in question, wine in itself, the requirements of the buyer from the European Union can be categorized as follows: “sine qua non” – requirements that must be met by any product that wants to become a part of the wine distribution market in the European Union, “general” – widespread requirements were are already taken into consideration and implemented by the majority of the wine distribution market players and, last but not least, “niche” – specific requirement for the niche segments of the European Union’s wine distribution market.
The strict conformity to the “sine qua non” category of requirements, as the name of this category suggests, guarantees only the acceptance of your product on the wine distribution market, not the actual commercial success of the product. The understanding and the implementation of the factors that stem from the “general” category of requirements, on the other hand, guarantees that your product is more or less on equal footing with the products of the competition when it comes to the buyer’s requirements on this particular market. This, in turn, makes your product have a better chance of being contracted by the European wine distributors and retailers. The implementation of certain measures needed in order to meet the requirements from the “niche” category guarantees equal footing with other products targeted at specific segments of the wine distribution market from the countries of the EU.
A detailed presentation of each category is to follow, along with considerations for action advised by the aforementioned study.
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